What is Plan for Mount Vernon Trail under Wilson Bridge & Royal St. Access?

[paulg]

My commute takes me through Alexandria on South Royal Street and under the Wilson Bridge as it does for many of us.

The Jones Point Park construction project is ongoing in the area under the Wilson Bridge and has affected us so far by making us navigate an unsafe gravel path at first and now a very bumpy ashpalt temporary trail with narrow access on to Royal Street. Washcycle posted a picture of some of the construction today.

I was taking a look at the Website dealing with the construction – http://alexandriava.gov/recreation/info/default.aspx?id=34692#information and I found this link to the what seems to be the proposed layout:

http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/recreation/info/JPPAlternative4A.pdf ( I attached it also)

If I’m looking at this correctly I have some MAJOR concerns. there is NO trail link from South Royal Street to the MVT in the plan that we are all used to! The MVT will be routed around near the water and under the bridge and up the South side of the bridge, with a longer detour.

So if there is no planned MVT link through to South Royal street to the South Side of Bridge I have the following issues and I think others will too:

1. I know we can all share the trails with others but I like the arrangement in OLD town where the MVT is seperated from the river walk as it evens out the traffic on the trails. Thsi Park will get pretty busy and if bikes can be detoured around it I think it would be a good thing.

2. At the north east end of the park on sketch 4A is a yellow dotted line that says ‘Perimeter Barrier’ . If the park closes at night, which quite a few NPS parks do, are they closing the MVT?? As we all know this trail is used 24/7 and any closure would be unacceptable.

4. The only access to MVT from the North is on Franklin street whch is kinda OK if coming from the North but if someone wants to join the trail from South Royal and points West they’ll be forced to ride a long way round OR ride the very narrow unsafe sidewalk along South Washington Street.

Maybe I’m getting my knickers in a twist for nothing and this has already been discussed and sorted out but based on the info I see on the website I’m very concerned that a much used connection is going to be cut off.

Any one else have any info? I’ll try emailing some of the contacts on the website.

Topic

[GreyBear]

I don’t like the plan either. It appears from the map that S. Royal Street will be closed off between the school and the bridge, paved over, and recycling bins placed in what was the roadway.

[PotomacCyclist]

Couldn’t you just take that access road from Royal St. to the trail? It also looks like there are many direct paved connections from Royal St. to the parking lots and the MVT. I think all of the dark gray areas will be paved asphalt. This is just my interpretation of what I’m seeing on the map. The cars would need to access the parking spaces under the bridge from Royal St. I doubt there will be a barrier between the street and the parking lots. The barrier seems to be located to the south of the bridge. There are no indications of a barrier between Royal St. and the park.

[paulg]

The sketch shows the parking as a ‘secure’ area. Not sure what that means. Will be it removable bollards that we can ride through or a chain link fence? All very uncertain in my mind.

Has WABA been involved in any of this?

[paulg]

I posted last week about construction work ongoing at Jones Point park under the Wilson Bridge on the VA side and how it might affect the MVT. The sketch on the website does not show a clear route from South Royal Street under the bridge to the trails on the South Side.

I emailed Jack Browand, CPRP, Division Chief – City of Alexandria – Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities and he got back to me within 30 mins to say this:

‘There will remain a connector under the bridge on Royal St.

Following construction, the surface will be replaced. There will not be vehicle traffic under the bridge.

We are anticipating the installation of permanent lighting under the bridge within the next 3-4 months.

Jack’

Sounds pretty good to me!

[paulg]

In addition to Jack Browand’s reply (see post above) I got another very prompt email from Jonathan Jacobsen, P.E. Executive Project Manager – Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project Potomac Crossing Consultants who repeated Jack’s response with a few more details.

‘Paul,

I’m delighted to hear from you – and to give you a very simple answer: Yes.

The ‘official’ Mt Vernon Trail route will run as you see on the alternative A schematic. There will also be a defined and maintained pathway from the trail, under the bridge, and to S. Royal St .

The pathway will basically consist of an extension of S. Royal St . , with a bit of a ‘bump out’ onto the alignment over the existing west sidewalk to accommodate a movable vehicle barrier. The movable barrier will be installed across S. Royal St , approximately at the south edge of the new cul-de-sac we’ve constructed for vehicles to turn around and to access the recycling bins. The bins will be moved to the new concrete pad we’ve built for them soon.

You may experience some minor shifts and detours while we complete all this work.’

[Author]

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